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Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Just a Guess but Apparently Trump Will Stoop to Anything to Deflect

After a gunman marauded through Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
last month, conservative commentators — looking for a culprit — seized
on an unlikely target: an Obama-era guidance document that sought to
rein in the suspensions and expulsions of minority students.

And this week, President Trump made the connection, announcing that
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will lead a school safety commission
charged in part with examining the “repeal of the Obama administration’s
‘Rethink School Discipline’ policies.”In a bruising interview on “60 Minutes”
on Sunday, Ms. DeVos said that the disproportionate discipline issue
“comes down to individual kids.” She declined to say whether she
believed that black students disciplined more harshly for the same
infraction were the victims of institutional racism.

“We’re
studying it carefully and are committed to making sure students have
opportunity to learn in safe and nurturing environments,” she said.

Reaction?

“Yet again, the Trump administration, faced with a domestic crisis, has
responded by creating a commission to study an unrelated issue in order
to ultimately advance a discriminatory and partisan goal,” said
Sherrilyn Ifill, the president and director-counsel at NAACP Legal
Defense and Educational Fund Inc.

To note:

Black students have never been the perpetrators of the mass shootings
that have shocked the nation’s conscience nor have minority schools been
the targets. But the argument went that any relaxation of disciplinary
efforts could let a killer slip through the cracks.

To which I'll add, that of all the mass shootings, the overwhelming majority are at rural and suburban high schools, not urban ones.

And this means all kids:

The “Rethink Discipline,”
package that Mr. Trump’s commission will examine includes guidance that
the Obama administration issued on the legal limitations on the use of
restraints and seclusion, corporal punishment and equity for special
education students.

I'll let the last word come from the superintendent of Broward County where the last mass shooting occurred:

The
Broward County superintendent, Robert Runcie, said that Mr. Rubio’s
effort to connect the district’s discipline policies to the Stoneman
Douglas shooting was misguided.

“We’re
not going to dismantle a program that’s been successful in the district
because of false information that someone has put out there,” Mr.
Runcie said on Twitter. “We will neither manage nor lead by rumors."

Education Acroynms

Advanced Learning - SPS' three-tier program for advanced learners. Made up of APP, Spectrum and ALOs. (Note: the name of the district program is "Advanced Learning Services and Programs" but these three programs fall under "Highly Capable Services" of AL Services and Programs.

ALO - Advanced Learning Opportunity, the third tier of SPS' Advanced Learning program

AP - Advanced Placement. A national program of college-level classes given in high schools.

APP - Accelerated Progress Program. One of the levels of the Advanced Learning Program. NOTE: the name of this program is now "HIGHLY CAPABLE COHORT." This change occurred in 2014.

ASB - Associated Student Body. High school leadership groups.

AYP - Adequate Yearly Progress. Part of NCLB.

BEX - Building Excellence. SPS' capital renovation/rebuilding program that is funded via the BEX levy. Every 3 years there is the Operations levy and either the BEX or BTA levies as those two levies rotate in six year cycles).

BLT - Building Leadership Team. Staff members at a school who meet regularly to discuss building issues.

BTA - Buildings, Technology, Academics. The major maintenance/other capital fund for SPS. Originally BTA was to cover major maintenance like HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning), roofs, waterlines, etc.) but now covers wide swaths of items like athletic fields, technology and funding academic needs.

CAICEE - Community Advisory Committee for Investing in Educational Excellence. Created by former Superintendent Manhas in 2008, to issue a report about reform recommendations for SPS.

CSIP - Continuous School Improvement Plan, the plan for improvement for each school as required by state law.

EOC - End of Course Assessments, given in math and science, required for high school graduationESEA - Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the federal law that governs education, includes the NCLB accountability provisions.

e-STEM or e-STEAM - STEM or STEAM curriculum with an environmental focus.

FACMAC - Facilities and Capacity Management Advisory Committee. A district committee comprises of an all-volunteer citizen group created in 2012 to help bring research and ideas to capacity management issues in the district.

FERPA - Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. A federal law that protects students' privacy

FRL - Free and reduced lunch.

FTE - Full Time Equivalent

FY - Fiscal Year

Highly Capable Services - NEW name (as of 2014) as umbrella name for these programs: Highly Capable Cohort (formerly APP), Spectrum and ALO (Advanced Learning Opportunities).

HSPE - High School Proficiency Exam, state assessment that replaced the WASL for 10th graders, required for graduation

HQT - Highly Qualified Teacher, a standard set by federal law

IA - Instructional Assistant

IB - International Baccalaureate program. An international program of advanced classes that can either be taken as stand alone or as part of an overall IB program.

IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The federal law that governs special education

MAP - Measures of Academic Progress. A computer-based adaptive assessment made by NWEA and originally purchased by the district for use as a district-wide formative assessment but now used for a wide variety of purposes.

MSP - Measurement of Student Progress, the state proficiency assessment that replaced the WASL for students in grades 1-8

MTSS - Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

NCLB - No Child Left Behind, a provision of the federal education law, ESEA, introduced during the George W. Bush administration